Chapter 52: Grade B Mission, Suzuran High School

Chapter 52: Grade-B Mission, Fengxian High School

Time flies like an arrow, and seasons change in the blink of an eye...

To make a long story short, and skip what needn't be said.

The day of Duan Ming's civil service exam finally arrived. He put on a well-fitted suit and combed his hair into the style of an adult.

Chen Feng, who came to lead the way: "(_)"

"Is that really necessary?"

Duan Ming tightened his tie and said solemnly, "It is necessary. Today is the turning point of my life; I cannot afford to be the slightest bit unserious."

"This is a lesson Sister Lingling taught me."

"Did Han Lingling ever tell you not to take our Paranormal Investigation Bureau too seriously?"

"Huh? How do you know?"

Chen Feng slapped his forehead. "She said it right to my face."

Duan Ming: "..."

"Awesome."

Chen Feng: "Then do you still want to..."

Before he could finish, Duan Ming walked out very decisively.

"No need to say more. Han Lingling is Han Lingling, and I am me. She may not take you guys seriously, but I, Duan Ming, have always kept you brothers in my heart. This respect is something I am definitely giving."

A warmth welled up in Chen Feng's heart.

"Oh right, Brother Chen Feng, I'm still a poor student with no money. I'm buying this suit on credit. Do you think you could help me pay for it first?"

Chen Feng: ""

Forget it, the warmth was gone.

...

Although Jin City was not the provincial capital, it held immense strategic significance in the territorial division of the Paranormal Investigation Bureau. The Jiang Province Branch was established right in the urban area of Jin City.

Following Chen Feng to the branch office, a group of men and women had already gathered at the main entrance. He Nian's massive frame was extremely eye-catching among them, and the latter had sharp eyes, instantly spotting the approaching Duan Ming. His bull-like eyes widened abruptly.

"Duan Ming! How did you...?"

"Could you possibly..."

"I could."

Duan Ming smiled slightly, then swept his gaze across the crowd, spotting Wang Tao that jerk among them, gritting his teeth in hatred.

Yet immediately afterward, he noticed someone he never expected to see here.

After a brief pause, he stepped forward and greeted her with a smile.

"I really didn't expect you to be here too, Yu Xiaoshuang."

Yu Xiaoshuang was the study commissioner of their class. She did not belong to the conventional type of beauty; at first glance, she didn't evoke a sense of breathtaking amazement, but looking at her for a long time brought a deep sense of comfort.

She smoothed the hair on her forehead and teased, "What? Only you, Duan Ming, are allowed to be headhunted, and I'm not allowed to have any extraordinary talents of my own?"

Chen Feng, standing nearby, provided timely context: "Yu Xiaoshuang's score last time reached E+, and she also obtained a ghost artifact upon settlement."

Duan Ming looked at the girl twice more in astonishment.

Ghost artifact rewards were purely a matter of luck, but a dungeon evaluation of E+ could not be achieved simply by looking good. One must remember they had only spent a single day in the GuanCai Residential Area. Even Duan Ming himself, who had seamlessly completed multiple customer commission tasks, only managed an F+ rating.

This was excluding the few hours spent watching Jiang Xiaoxiao take a bath.

It seemed Yu Xiaoshuang was not as simple as she appeared on the surface.

Duan Ming smiled and said nothing more.

More and more people gathered at the main entrance. After a brief visual count, Duan Ming estimated there were nearly fifty people present.

Could the number of participants for this mission really reach fifty?

It was common knowledge that the greater the number of people, the higher the difficulty. The previous Blue Mountain Hospital had twenty people and already reached Grade-D difficulty. Wouldn't this civil service exam span Grades C, B, and A?

Sure enough, once the personnel had gathered, Luo Yulong, accompanied by Zhou Xiangfu, slowly walked up to the small temporary stage set up by the staff.

It was another slow, dramatic pace akin to a close-up shot. Duan Ming was already used to it, but Zhou Xiangfu was vastly different this time.

He had changed his shoes.

They were no longer Adidas Kings, but a pair of vintage, ancient-style long boots. Seeing Duan Ming's gaze shift over, he deliberately pulled up the hem of his robe and tucked it into his waistband.

Seeing the main figures take the stage, the noisy scene instantly quieted down.

However, Luo Yulong clearly hadn't had enough of putting on airs. He continued to keep his hands behind his back and gaze into the distance for a long while, while Zhou Xiangfu similarly paraded his new shoes in various poses for quite a while.

Finally, ten minutes later, he spoke in a lazy yet confident tone.

"Is everyone here?"

"I suppose you all see it. There are fifty people taking this test exam, and you guessed it..."

"This time, it's a Grade-B mission."

A commotion immediately rippled through the crowd.

"What! Grade-B? Are you kidding me?"

"Doesn't the Paranormal Investigation Bureau care about our lives at all? We're here to take an assessment, not to be cannon fodder."

"I request to withdraw from the assessment!"

As they spoke, several people actually turned and left the crowd without looking back.

However, the majority of the people remained silent, waiting to see how things would develop.

Once the crowd gradually quieted down, Luo Yulong spoke again. This time, his gaze was cold and stern.

"Is anyone else quitting?"

No one made a sound.

"Very good." He then instructed the staff nearby, "Take down the names of those who just left. They will never be employed by us in the future."

Only then did he turn back to face the crowd.

"I won't repeat grand principles anymore, but there is one thing I can say to give you peace of mind."

"The difficulty is indeed Grade-B, but the Paranormal Investigation Bureau will not play with your lives either. Every single one of you is a talent, plain and simple, the wealth of the country. No matter how crazy we are, we wouldn't do something so foolish."

"For this mission, the Boundary Stone will grant everyone one chance at resurrection. Simply put, after dying accidentally, each person will randomly appear in a safe zone within a one-kilometer radius. At that time, you will have ten seconds to decide whether to continue. If you decide not to continue, you will be teleported out, and naturally, the assessment will be considered a failure."

"I won't say much more about the specifics. This exam is a pass/fail assessment, not a ranking one. As long as you can complete the mission and come out alive, you will become a part of our Paranormal Investigation Bureau."

"Let's begin."

He nodded to the nearby staff. Several workers immediately brought out a box and opened it. Inside lay a green-glowing stone the size of a fist, though it was only an illusion.

Following the staff's operations, Duan Ming only felt a blur before his eyes, and within a split second, the scene before him changed drastically.

This was an ordinary classroom, looking just like one in reality. Textbooks were piled high into stacks, perhaps to block the teacher's view or because the ghost world carried similarly immense academic pressure.

It should still be early morning right now, and not a single ghost student had arrived yet.

The fifty people were not teleported into the same classroom simultaneously. Duan Ming looked around; aside from He Nian, there were three other unfamiliar faces.

At that moment, messages simultaneously flashed into the minds of everyone present.

[Dungeon Name: Fengxian High School]

[Dungeon Difficulty: Grade-B]

[Dungeon Participants: 50 people]

[Dungeon Mission: Earn 100 credits and successfully pass the graduation exam.]

[Friendly Tips: 1. 100 credits is the minimum requirement to take the graduation exam. The more credits you earn, the better your graduation exam score, and the higher the dungeon clearance rating will be.]

[2. Listen to the teacher.]

(End of this chapter)